RCRC recently submitted written comments to the California Water Commission (CWC) on the Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) Draft Regulations. The WSIP meets the requirements of Proposition 1 (Water Bond) which requires the CWC to develop and adopt regulations to award bond funding for water storage projects that provide public benefits. The CWC is currently developing the regulations through a public process, and must adopt regulations by December 15, 2016.
The Water Bond provides $2.7 billion in funding for the public benefits of water storage projects. Eligible projects include CALFED surface storage, groundwater storage and groundwater clean-up, conjunctive use and reservoir reoperation, and local and regional surface storage. The public benefits that can be funded include ecosystem improvement, water quality improvement, flood control, emergency response, and recreation. Fifty percent of a project’s State funding must go toward ecosystem benefits, and State funding for a project cannot exceed 50 percent of the total project cost. The statute requires the CWC to select projects through a competitive public process. In early 2017, the CWC is scheduled to begin the first step of a two-step application process, being the pre-application process. Once the pre-application period concludes, the full application development period will begin, which will be about six months. In 2018 the technical review, independent peer review, and the CWC project decision-making will transpire.
RCRC’s letter to the CWC on the WSIP Draft Regulations can be accessed here.